Hungary’s Growth Target to Elude Orban Again in Run-Up to Tight Election
- Hungary has successively missed its growth and deficit goals
- Premier Orban is racing to fix the economy ahead of 2026 vote
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Hungary is set to miss a 4% economic growth target for a second year, according to the latest projections, limiting Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s spending room before what’s expected to be the tightest election in 16 years.
The economy unexpectedly contracted in the second quarter, with the government blaming the weak performance on struggling industrial exports to western Europe, mainly Germany. Under Orban, the nation has also become increasingly reliant on electric-vehicle battery demand, and the slowdown in that sector has had an out-sized impact on Hungary.